The Future of Consumerist

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Stay tuned as Consumerist’s current and future content finds its home as a part of the Consumer Reports brand. In the meantime, you can access existing Consumerist content below, and we encourage you to visit Consumer Reports to read the latest consumer news.

keys

Imagine this scene: you’ve locked yourself out of your apartment. You could climb in the window, call up a locksmith for emergency service, or finally put to use all of those hours you spent teaching the cat how to operate a deadbolt. Or you could walk to a nearby kiosk, provide a thumbprint, and receive an exact copy of your key. [More]

For a recent trip, Michael rented a car from Hertz. It was a hatchback. He had a tiny problem: the key he had opened the doors and started the engine and everything, but didn’t open the hatch. He tried a few different ways to contact customer service, but couldn’t find anyone to help him or didn’t receive an answer. He never needed trunk access during his trip…but what if he had? [More]

There are lots of honest locksmiths out there — but there are dishonest ones too — and they’re notorious for bullying helpless consumers out of a lot of money. Here’s the scenario: You’re locked out of your car, so you call a locksmith. You’re quoted a price that seems reasonable, but when the “locksmith” shows up, he bullies you into paying more money — a lot more.

Aaron visited Sears to pick up a new Craftsman snowblower he bought for 10% off on Sears.com, but the store only had one floor model in stock. Aaron agreed to take the unit after staff assured him that it came with a warranty, manuals, and all the things normally bundled with new snowblowers. Of course, Sears couldn’t find either the manual or the keys. A salesman promised that “Ray from Lawn & Garden” would mail the key whenever he returned, an offer Aaron refused. The salesman then offered a key from another snowblower, promising “the keys are basically universal.” That key didn’t work because, as a different associate later discovered, the unit was missing its electric start socket.

The Colombus Dispatch informs us that Kroger loyalty cards do, in fact, help people find lost keys.

The U.S. Postal Service delivers about 100 sets of lost keys each week to the Great Lakes region Kroger headquarters in Westerville, which covers most of Ohio, Michigan and West Virginia. Kroger employees look up customers’ addresses and ship the keys and any attachments to their homes, often to very surprised owners.